Welcome to September! Today I was going to post about just any random music I like. But I decided to take the risk and post songs that I connect to my works instead. So this is the story of my writing and the way music connects into it. Hopefully this won't be too spoilerish. I just thought you might find it interesting.

On another note, I just joined a publishing related blogfest. The badge is on the blog sidebar right now! I honestly have no idea how it works, but I figured I'd try it out. The possibility of getting looked at by professionals is always good. The one thing I do know is that I'm going to be required to post some personal info on Monday, so, be expecting that. Also, you know juliathewritergirl, whom I've mentioned before? My writing buddy? She's in the blogfest too. And just cuz I want to, here's the link to her blog.

Moving on to the topic of the day. I'll be listing out my books and talking about the songs I associate to them. So you'll also get a chance to see the varied expanse of my work! Keep in mind, any or none of these could end up being published at any time in the future, although at the time of this blog post, I intend to attempt publication for all of the following works.

*Note: I do not own rights to this music except those mentioned specifically as my own work. The novels mentioned are all mine.*

THE ICE ENCHANTRESS'S PLOTThis is the first full novel I wrote (in sixth grade) that I still have and intend, currently, to publish. It's a middle grade female-oriented epic fantasy. The music I connect to this is solely from the classical repertoire--in fact, it's all from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.

"Trepak" and "Mother Gigone & the Clowns" were chosen as songs of celebration for the end track in the novel, due to their high-energy, fun intensity. A final balcony scene focuses around "Pas de Deux," which is also my favorite classical piece ever. It's very lush and romantic in an intense, almost sad way, which I connect to on a personal level.

THE LAST HOPEThis is the singular novel from seventh grade which I am still working on. It's a middle grade science fiction, but has no musical connections at this time, mostly because I was undergoing a change in musical tastes through my middle school years. (Before that, I didn't know any popular music--I just listened to Enya and classical stuff. Can you imagine? Then I got to middle school and the radio was on everywhere, and man, was I overwhelmed at first!)

TWISTWritten in eighth grade, TWIST, a young adult fantasy fairytale retelling, also has no particular musical connections.

THE PSYCHIC STORYMy first major work (although arguably TIEP was also a large project) and written in eighth grade, THE PSYCHIC STORY is a young adult fantasy romance that has, in fact, been connected to a number of songs in my own mind through various times.

As a connection between a story of war and a choice to fight for the rights of a people, and a love story that involves the difficulty of loss, the above tracks connected in well with the book. "What Hurts the Most" focuses on the loss of a love, as does "New Divide," "Breakeven," and, in a sense, "Leave Out All the Rest." "Got Dynamite" summarizes the story in a pseudo-metaphorical way, whereas "Savin' Me" is a fairly literal interpretation of the story's focus. "Sing" is all about the choice of war involved in the novel. "Flattery" is somewhat different, in the sense that it's not the lyrics, but the musical pattern that somehow became involved with my image of what THE PSYCHIC STORYwould be like when presented as a movie trailer.

THE CHOSEN FOUR Series: ON THE DAWNINGTHE CHOSEN FOUR series, is, obviously, my current main focus. This website was designed to focus on this young adult speculative fiction series, which comprises four books. Originally written as one book titled THE CHOSEN FOUR during my ninth grade year, the first book, ON THE DAWNING, used to also comprise the second book, ON THE BRINK. Thus, the musical connections for these books were at one point, together. However, they have become more separate as the books took on separate identities. Below are the tracks for ON THE DAWNING.

"Walk In" from ON THE DAWNING"Iridescent" Linkin Park"Castle of Glass" Linkin Park

"Walk In," of course, is the first song I wrote in the text of one of my novels. It's involved in an important scene with the expansion of the group in ON THE DAWNING. A recording of this song is available on the site under Bonus Material. *Editor's Note on 10 October 2016: Content is no longer available.* "Iridescent" is connected to the tragedy pre-series which drives the plot of On the Dawning. "Castle of Glass" is the most recent track I've chosen for my imagined movie trailers.

"What I've Done" and "If You Only Knew" are both songs connected to dialogue in On the Brink, dialogue centering around an important loss that affects the entire novel plot. "Bring Me to Life" also centers around the loss, and more specifically the effects of it. All of these songs have been placed with imaginary movie trailers for the novel at some point, although "What I've Done" is the one that's stuck.

C4 Series: ON THE RUNThe third CHOSEN FOUR book, written the summer after ninth grade.

The focus of this book is on a fight/evasion of an enemy, thus the choice of all these songs, which have either momentary lyrical focus on points of the book, or focus on the concept as a whole. "Second Chance" is more about the hopes that the Four have to carry with them even as everything else goes wrong. "Uprising" was the prime track for imagined trailers, although recently it's turned to "Burn It Down."

C4 Series: ON THE OUTSIDEThe final CHOSEN FOUR book, written in tenth grade.

"A Thousand Years (Dance With Me)" from ON THE OUTSIDE"A Theme for the Chosen Four" Kira Brighton"Desperate" David Archuleta"Waiting for the End" Linkin Park"Bulletproof" La Roux"Unidentified Main Titles" from Disney's Race to Witch Mountain

The first song is another original used in a scene from ON THE OUTSIDE. When the novel is (hopefully) published, this track will be available on this site. The second one, "A Theme for the Chosen Four," is a partial score track composed by me for the series, though the concept behind it didn't truly come into play until this, the last book. It is meant as a sort of love theme, and is currently available, as played on solo cello, in the Bonus Material of this website. The full version, should it ever be finished, would be for an entire orchestra. *Editor's Note on 10 October 2016: Content is no longer available on this website.*

Though there is much readers probably won't anticipate about how this novel goes, the main focus is truly back on the social aspect of the Four's lives, which brings about the next three songs. "Desperate" is just the general feeling. "Bulletproof" is especially for one of the more difficult relationships in the series. "Waiting for the End" is the full-out trailer song, very ideal for this novel. "Unidentified Main Titles" fits more with the science fiction-y feel this final book takes.

THE PROPHECY KEEPERA young adult epic fantasy written in my junior year of high school, the entire musical connection revolves around the Disney Tarzan soundtrack. If you judge me on this, I will come kill you. Seriously, I'd just gotten into this soundtrack when I was writing the book, and emotionally it connected for me.

"You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan"A Wondrous Place" from Tarzan "The Gorillas" from Tarzan "One Family" from Tarzan

The top track, "You'll Be in my Heart", is the main theme, a vocal piece, that shows up through most of the score tracks below. The concept fits both the sense of duty, tragedy, and romance that fills THE PROPHECY KEEPER. It made me cry when I was writing it.

DON'T JUDGE.

WHAT IT TAKES TO DEALThe musical connections for this novel, a young adult medical spy-fi from my senior year, are slightly different. The main character has musical talents that are shown throughout the novel in the form of the music she listens to and in original song text included in the novel. Though no specific tracks are mentioned, the main character's musical groups of choice are Evanescence, Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down, Orianthi, and My Chemical Romance. She also indulges in Adele at one point. Otherwise, the music of this novel is all self-written as a part of the story and will eventually be accessible on this site, should the novel become published.

"Shining" from WHAT IT TAKES TO DEAL"Silence" from WHAT IT TAKES TO DEAL"Painlock" from WHAT IT TAKES TO DEAL"Waiting" from WHAT IT TAKES TO DEAL"Trapped" from WHAT IT TAKES TO DEAL"What It Takes to Deal" from WHAT IT TAKES TO DEAL

PERISHEDThis centuries-later young adult fantasy romance sequel to THE PSYCHIC STORY I originally began in ninth grade, but didn't complete until close to the end of my senior year of high school. The musical connection for this novel has not been fully perused, but beyond what is shown below, it would most likely involve many love songs in the vein of those mentioned above.

"Cursum Perficio" Enya"Pax Deorum" Enya"Call Me" Shinedown

The focus on a civilization post-destruction in PERISHED is what lends power to the above Enya tracks, which are both nicely dark and intense. "Call Me" is about the turn against society's norms that the central character must take in order to save herself and the one she loves, and ultimately, society itself.